Why SSL is important5/5 (1)

Why SSL is important? By now you’re likely to have heard the buzz about SSL and website security. In case you missed it, in July 2018, Google Chrome started alerting site visitors that a website isn’t secure if it doesn’t have an HTTPS connection. This created a lot of panic for website owners because visitors are highly likely to leave your website out of fear. Even worse, they won’t purchase if you have an eCommerce business.

To help ease this burden, HostGator now offers free SSL certificates for all customers. They’ll even help you install it on your website so you can be secure and back to business quickly. They want to make sure that you and your audience know about this free offering from HostGator and how to install it.

There are many reasons that SSL is important for your customers, but be sure to activate SSL to improve your Google search rankings. The free SSL will be credited to your account, but you must ​complete a few steps to activate it ​on your website and force https.

The Background on the Google Chrome Update…

In July 2018, Google Chrome released a browser security update that may change the way your website shows up online. In order to provide visitors with a more safe and secure browsing experience, Google Chrome now alerts site visitors that a site isn’t secure if it doesn’t have an HTTPS connection.

What is HTTPS and SSL…

SSL (short for secure sockets layer) is the certificate that encrypts communications between the server and the person visiting your website. In order to use SSL, you need to have an SSL Certificate installed on your server. Once installed, your web address will change from http://​ to https://​ to indicate that your website is secure. You’ve probably noticed sites that have a secure “lock” icon in the upper left-hand corner of the search bar. It will look like this:

Why SSL is important?

Why SSL is important?

The SSL indicates that your site is secure​ and can be trusted​ to safely process information such as contact information, credit cards, and billing address. HTTPS can be incredibly valuable for your site as it creates a secure channel between the browser and the website. A secure connection is a must-have for sites that process personal information like an eCommercewebsite.

At one point, Google Chrome entirely grayed out your website and made visitors accept the risk of loading your website. Luckily, the July Chrome update was a little milder than expected. But, if your site is not secure, visitors will see a “not secure” notice next to your website address and a pop-up option that indicates “you should not enter any sensitive information on this website such as passwords or credit cards because it could be stolen by attackers.”

In addition, Google will likely give search engine ranking preference to websites with SSL installed and https activated. What does that mean? If you don’t have SSL on your website, your site may appear lower in Google search rankings, and more secure websites will rank higher than yours.

How can I avoid a security warning?

The only way to avoid this warning is to install an SSL certificate. To help ease this burden, all HostGator customers receive a free SSL certificate that is recognized and trusted by 99.9% of browsers and devices. By having this certificate, you will avoid a ‘not secure’ warnings when people visit your site. We also have paid SSL options for customers looking for additional features from their SSL certificate.

Thank you very much for reading Why SSL is important, hopefully useful.